The Beginnings of Call Grimsby

In his early life, Call lived on his family farmstead beyond the outer walls of Acrea. It was a peaceful time. His three sisters would learn to tend to the livestock with their mother, Freya Grimsby, whilst Call would work with his uncle, Tom Archangel, maintaining the land and ensuring the safety of their farmstead from pests and local predators. Call’s father died before he could remember him but he was always told it was a freak illness that took him. It shocked the family, but everything was kept in order with the offer from Tom to move into the farmstead and help keep things running. He was like a Dad to the kids. A kind-hearted man with a practical outlook on life.
 
It wasn't long before Tom would teach him to wield Endeavour, Uncle’s prized rifle. They would lay atop the barn and fire at old salt licks resting on hay bales in the surrounding fields. Call was a quick learner and fortunately, his teacher was tactful and wise. He was then taught tracking, effective stealth, where to aim to cause the most damage, how to make the most out of someone's vulnerabilities. Within a year Call was hitting targets from more than an acre or two a way consistently as well as successfully tracking down his first wolf. After his first kill of a local predator Call ran to his mother excitedly! After explaining what he had done, following his Uncle’s instruction, his Mother remarked “Uncle knows best!” with a joyful smile on her face.
 
Shortly after Call’s 14th birthday, Tom began to take Call on business to Acrea where they would sell the goods to the cityfolk. They set off in a large wooden carriage for a few days' ride. The whole way Tom would point at different farmsteads or villages telling him what families reside there and what they produce. Call found this slightly boring but tolerated the lecture. They stopped at Inns along the way where they would meet all kinds of strange and wonderful characters! They would sing and dance until Tom could barely stand or was so red in the face Call thought he would explode. They would return to their room and be off in the morning, though Tom was quiet for a good few hours as he recovered.
 
Upon arriving in Acrea Call was in awe of this place's beauty. The grand buildings and bustling streets were unbelievable to this little farm boy, but when he called to his Uncle to share in his happiness, Call saw for the first time in his Uncle’s face what can only be described as disgust. He clearly did not enjoy this place but Call could not explain why. As they reached the markets they set up shop, Tom put his game face on, smiling and announcing his wares to the crowds. Wheels of cheese, fresh milk and beef in all assortments. People crowded and began handing over all kinds of shiny pieces of metal then taking their goods. “coins” Tom explained, “We can exchange these for things we need!”. A few hours passed and they were sold out, other than some moldy cheese that Tom insisted was a delicacy.
They stayed a night in Acrea in a tucked away tavern with other traders but also a number of hooded individuals. Tom had taken a seat in among the strange crowd and asked Call to wait in the room. After a short bout of protests Call surrendered himself to their small double room. Call listened carefully to ambient noises, making out the footsteps outside and the scraping of chairs in the bar. He peered out the window and found himself lost in thoughts of what his life would have been like if he were born into a family from here, the wild streets and mad markets. The pretty girls going round in their lovely dresses and the busy men in formal uniforms going about their duties. “How wonderful” he thought.
 
Call then noticed a change in the street outside. People began to clear the area, doors closed and shutters clambered down. It was almost as if people were hiding... That was when he noticed the two silhouettes walking the street. They paced down till they were level with the inn and turned to face it. Call watched them carefully, wondering if they were the cause of the lockdown. One turned up and stared straight at him. Call ducked, shaken by the man's stare. He knew they were bad news.
 
Call then heard a slam from downstairs, the clamber of feat and falling of chairs. A short silence passed, then a muffled authoritative voice booming across the bar. Then it began. He heard slamming, smashing and crunches. Terror took over him as covered by the bed. He heard footsteps on the steps up then… nothing? Suddenly shadowy wisps of smoke began to fill the room as a figure appeared from nowhere. As the shadows dissipated he began to recognise the figure. It was his uncle. Tom grabbed the wrist of Call with his bloodsoaked hand. Call realised his Uncle was bleeding, one of his arms was missing and part of his torso was gone. Call screamed as his Uncle tried to silence him. “It’s okay. Call you have to listen.” The room downstairs had gone quiet… Footsteps began up the stairs.
“You have to run Call, you have to look after the family now.” Tom’s hand began to produce shadowy wisps again. “This is all I can do for you now. Your father would have been proud.” The shadows began to creep around Calls wrist, up his arm… “Remember what I taught you… and don't you get caught…” Tom began to cough, bringing up blood with each wretch. “You were the son… I never had…”
Tom’s eyes rolled as the shadows began to manically wreathe their way around Call. He could feel them beckoning him to let them in, Call gasped as he saw his uncle fall to the ground but before he could let out a sob, the shadows forced their way in… Call choked as he fought for air against the shadows, he felt a rush inside of him like he had never before. As the last of the shadows made its way within him the door slammed open, the door almost falling off its hinges. Call heard in his Uncle’s whisper… “Immortals…. Run.”
 
Tom collapsed as the hulking mass of man behind him charged at Call. In an instant the shadows emerged from him again and he felt himself fall, but in no direction he had ever felt before. The world turned dark and the massive figure, that shattered room and his uncle had gone.
 
“Run.”
 
He felt a rush as he moved as a gust of wind out the window, through the greyscale streets, past the market to that old cobbled road where they entered the city and ran. He could see his freedom, his mum, his sisters, his herd, his home all before him all outside of those gates. As he approached at pace he heard booming steps after him, the massive figure in pursuit.
Call darted into a side street, grazing walls and bumping shadowy figures as he went, the figure behind him keeping pace but not gaining, being slowed by all the obstacles, not quite as nimble as Call. As they approached a building Call felt the shadows beckoning him to use them again, this time a hole of complete darkness appeared before him, but as he collided with it, he suddenly appeared on the rooftops, sliding down the slanted thating of a household. He could see his pursuer, attempting to locate him with no luck. As call fell again from the edge of the rooftop he felt liberated. A portal opened beneath him as he reappeared at the gate he had entered Acrea, hopping into the back of a wagon, off to anywhere but here.
 
It was taking Call a long time to return to the family farmstead. Along the way he heard stories of the guardsmen of Acrea city rooting out a meeting of a potential heretical group known as the Order. Call pressed to learn more, understanding this could be the very meeting he had witnessed. They explained the group had a distaste for the social hierarchy and wanted to fight for the downtrodden, the good men who have to work for their living. People seemed to want to share their views on these people but would stop themselves, perhaps realising it better to stay out of it…
Call had been traveling two weeks now and finally returned to the farmstead. He was not greeted by his sisters or mother, nor by any of the farm animals… quite the opposite. A repossession order had been nailed onto the gates to the land alongside a for sale sign. Call ran to the house looking for signs of his family but with nothing to be seen. No livestock… No pictures. Only furniture too large to remove from the interior and the odd nic nac left around the place clearly abandoned. Call went outside and went to the barn.
 
Call sat atop the barn for hours. Grief began to kick in and the realisation that his family had probably been arrested for association to his treasonous uncle. His heart hurt as he sobbed feeling hopeless and lost… but as the tears fell, the light gleamed of an object not too far from where he was perched. The long barrel… the etched markings… It was Endeavour… and fastened to it, a sealed note with the Grimsby mark...
 
“Dearest Call,
 
Your sisters and I have been issued with a warrant of arrest for all members of the farmstead. They have checked our affairs and believe it to only be the 4 of us. We have agreed to hand ourselves into the authorities and as such they have given us a few days to get our personal effects in order before being taken.
Don’t come after us. Attempting to take up arms against the empire on your own is suicide.
 
Your Uncle and Father fought for a worthy cause. However the nature of their work does come with its dangers and we knew that this outcome was a likely one, we just hoped the kids would not be caught up in it...
I've taken the opportunity to hide Endeavour for you to find upon your arrival, alongside the rest of our ammunition and a few days worth of food.
Take Endeavour and make something of yourself. Fight in the memory of all of us and if you get lost, remember what your Uncle taught you.
I love you.
 
Mum.”
 
Years passed as Call took on odd jobs working as a farm hand before he discovered an intriguing opportunity. A bounty. A hard looking bald man staring directly out from the poster with deadeyes. “50 gold pieces to the man that brings this man to justice… Dead or Alive…” And just like that Call’s Bounty hunting career had started, utilising his Uncle’s training to make short work of bounty after bounty… travelling the rural cities in search of small game.
 
One day in an inn to the west of Acrea, a man approached Call, offering him a job: to kill a man in cold blood. Call was initially unsettled by this… but when offered more than triple of any bounty he had pulled off and half of that upfront… he couldn't refuse. After the completion of this first contract, this contact continued to offer Call job after job, each more difficult. But as the jobs got harder and dirtier, so did the pay. This led to Call turning cold and hard, struggling to let people in. His only trust was in a Parrot who had taken a fondness to the scraps that Call would leave him after a successful hunt… and that strange man who seemed to always find Call for new jobs. After a while the man offered a strange prospect to Call. He wanted to pay Call to travel to the lost continent and become immortal. This made Call shudder, remembering the sheer power of the only immortal he has ever laid eyes upon. The hulking man that killed Uncle. When Call asked why he would want Call to do this the man just replied that he was a worthy investment. He had jobs he feels that Call could accomplish far more efficiently if he were an immortal. Call thought it over and took his mysterious benefactor up on his offer.
The trial was a difficult one but Call came through. His shots rained down upon his targets, providing the rest of his group the covering fire they needed to break through the challenges.
After reaching immortality, Call felt far more powerful. His benefactor had gone quiet on him, so he returned to the mainland and spent decades making the easiest money in his life. He formed a close bond with Gargle, his trusted parrot, and pushed himself all he could. Call loved his newfound life.
 
Then one day, his strange hooded benefactor appeared again. He offered Call a strange job… He wanted Call to watch a squadron from the Loaded Deck's Hearts division. Keep an eye on them and report their actions back to him via a messenger bird that would arrive to him each week. Call originally thought this was a joke. But then the mysterious man named his price… 50,000 gold pieces… upfront.
“Deal.”